Ball and catch games have always commanded the interest of people, but handicapped persons with impaired arm functions have been unable to particpate.
Heretofore, ball and catch games, as exemplified by the patent to Haroski U.S. Pat. No. 3,610,622, which do not require the use of the arms, have been devised which utilize a basket attached to the body of a person and a tethered ball attached to the basket. The object of the game being for the player to move his body in such a way as to cause the tethered ball to fly up and land in the basket. This kind of game has, however, inherent limitations in that it does not require interaction between other persons. Consequently, after a while the game becomes boring.
A ball and catch game which could be played by persons having normal as well as impaired arm functions would be useful because handicapped persons with impaired arm functions could play with each other as well as with normal persons. This athletic interaction would be exciting and physically beneficial to the players.
In its simplest form a basket is attached to the leg of a player. As the player kicks his leg, a ball in the basket flies out to be caught in a basket attached to the leg of another player.
In another form, a ball ejecting mechanism can be attached to the basket of a player, which when actuated, ejects the ball from the basket so it can travel a distance far enough to be caught in a basket attached to the leg of another player.
What is needed therefore and comprises an important object of this invention is to provide equipment which permits handicapped persons to play ball and catch games with each other and with persons with normally functioning limbs.